Not a Cloud In the Sky

by OutOfTheBlue

Beating Around The Bush (Part 1)

Pandora exhaled quietly before slowly sliding a bit closer to Cloud. She knew he might freak out again but he was just so dang soft and fluffy she couldn't resist. She slowly let her mind wander as she recalled last nights events.

It was nice of him to stick up for me like that. I don't know why he wants to be around me, butI can say with certainty, that he is the kindest, most generous, handsome, brave, an-

Pandora froze mid thought as she realized what she admitted .

N-no, I, I can't think about him like that. He's a pony and I'm a changeling. We-we're not supposed to, be attracted to each other, right? I mean he obviously could never like me, cause I mean, I... I'm probably just being stupid right now, and will forget all about it later.

After quietly slipping out of the room, Pandora decided to practice her reading to get her mind off of her confusing thoughts. She pulled out a book she had started earlier and started reading the last chapter.

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In a tall, dark keep, guarded by undead warriors, a changeling looked longingly out the window of her prison. She longed for freedom and for her true love to come find her. Sounds of fighting rose up from below and gradually got closer. For a moment, all went quiet, before suddenly a figure in armor walked into the room. He removed his helmet, revealing his grey mane and dark blue coat. She ran to him crying,

"My love, I knew you'd come rescue me."

With a smirk, the warrior drew closer to his love, and gazed softly into her pure blue eyes with his storm grey eyes, and replied,

"I told you I'd protect you, and I did."

The two leaned closer,

"Cloud, I-"

"Shh, Pandora, I love you and will always love you, no matter what."

The two lovers drew closer, eyes closing as the pursed their lips and-

Pandora closed the book with a thump, eyes wide and panicking slightly.

"*groan* What's wrong with me, I-I shouldn't be feeling this way and I, it just doesn't make sense!, but..."

She sighed before adding,

"I think I might... l-lo... like, him."

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Cloud awoke to find his bed empty, which was surprising considering he was being used as a stuffed animal last night by a distraught changeling. He sighed before getting out of bed and walking to the kitchen. He saw Pandora sitting on the couch, with a look of deep thought ob her face.

Wonder how long till she notices me?It turned out it took as long as it took him to make pancakes for the two of them and retrieve the mail before poking Pandora with a hoof. After jolting, Pandora gave hin a questioning look before realizing he was gesturing toward the table that was now covered with an insane amount of pancakes. The two had barely started eating when a knock was heard at the door. Cloud opened it after Pandora donned her disguise to see something he wasn't expecting. Standing at the door was a gryphon with grey feathers and a black body. He was wearing black eye makeup and had small black diamonds tattooed beneath each eye. On his head rested an expensive pair of headphones, which were apparently cranked up to max volume given Cloud could hear the guitar riffs without being very close.

"Yo, dude, there anybody else in there with you,cause I'm looking for someone and, I think she's around here somewhere."

Cloud blinked and was about to ask who in Equestria this gryphon was when Pandora suddenly gasped and shouted,

"Beat! Is that you?!"

The gryphon's eyes widened before he smiled and replied,

"Sis! It's good to see ya, how's life treating you, come on it's been months, I gotta know literally everything!"

"B-beat, I, I'm doing great! How about you? It's been over a year since you got banished from the hive."

The gryphon known as Beat's eyes widened and he glanced at Cloud frantically.

"Sis! Ixnay on the ive-hay!"

Cloud facehoofed and said,

"Dude, I know who you are, and more importantly what you are. No need to freak out."

He extended his hoof to the gryphon and continued,

"My name's Cloud Nine by the way."

Beat cocked an eyebrow before shaking his hoof.

"Weird name for a pony."

"There's a story behind it that I would be more than happy to tell you inside where you two can drop the disguises and catch up over pancakes."

"Well thanks bud, and cudos to you for being chill with the whole changeling thing. Now, if you don't mind, I want some of those pancakes you mentioned."

As the door closed, two green flashes filled the house. Standing beside Pandora was a changeling with an obviously masculine build. He had the same blue eyes, curved horn, fangs, and everything. The only difference was the fact that his tail and the spiky crest on his neck were both dyed red. As Cloud served the newcomer some pancakes, Beat asked,

"Alright sis, tell me everything that happened. I could tell you got banished cause all of the sudden, poof! Couldn't remember your name."

Cloud looked up in surprise,

"Whoa whoa whoa, you couldn't remember her name! What's with that?"

"Umm... Cloud when I said I didn't have a name anymore, I meant that I literally didn't have a name anymore. When a changeling gets banished, the queen removes all memory of that changeling's name from all living changelings with a spell passed down from queen to queen. She then removes all memories of the hives location and any important information about the hive we know before knocking us out. You just wake up in a random location with no idea how to get back. Oh! and Beat, I go by Pandora now."

Beat nodded and then turned to Cloud.

"Speaking of names, you said yours had a story, so spill dude."

Cloud sighed,

"Can we at least finish breakfast first?"

"Alright... but then it's story time."

After cleaning up the carnage of Beat's rapid consumption of twenty pancakes (which Cloud figured had to be physically impossible) the pony and two changelings sat on the couch. Beat flopped onto the arm while Cloud and Pandora sat with a respectable distance between them.

"You know Cloud, you really never told me much about yourself, so after the name story, I want a full explanation of why you were trying to be all emotionless and angsty when we first met."

"Yeah, and then I wanna hear how you two met! So you better start dishing angsty."

Cloud huffed,

"I am not angsty, you're making me sound like an overly dramatic high schooler. But, I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you. I trust you Pandora, and Beat, well, anybody who can say what your sister claims you said when you were banished is ok in my book."

Pandora snickered,

"You said somebody instead of somepony, I guess I'm rubbing off on you."

Cloud rolled his eyes and began.

"For my name, well, it's really not a long story. My mom and dad hadn't decided on a name for me yet, and while my mom was being rolled into her room, my dad asked her how she was doing. She responded 'Oh, just great, infact, I feal like I'm on cloud nine right now.' They both decided it had a nice ring to it, it fit the family tradition of cloud related names, so they named me Cloud Nine. As to why I started trying to remove all emotion from myself, well. Growing up, I was always the forgotten child. My brother ,Godspeed, was relatively smart, and really cool, athletic, and popular. He was my hero and I wanted to be just like him. Anyway, my dad and brother were always going off to play sports together or stuff like that. My sister was really, really smart and spent most of her time shopping with her friends and my mom. I spent most of my time by myself, not for lack of effort, but because everyone else always made fun of me because I wasn't cool and couldn't fly very well. I was always living in my brother's shadow but I didn't mind, I basically idolized him, and he knew it. I can still remember all the times he took advantage of that to make my life miserable, but still, I never seemed to get that he was picking on me, not just playing. So it continued like that, my brother either ignoring me or using me as his punching bag, and my sister and parents never really paying any attention to me, until high school. The first day of high school, my brother and his friends decided to prank one of the freshmen. They cornered me and then duct taped me to the school flag pole. I kept begging Godspeed to help me, but he just laughed and called me a cry baby and kept mocking me until they all left. Eventually a teacher found me and it came out who did it. My brother and his friends got into huge trouble. Later that night, my brother barged into my room ,furious, and asked why I ratted him out. I asked why he wouldn't help me and... he said I was too pathetic to be worth helping, and that he wished he had a different pony for a brother. He refused to speak to me for a week. I was absolutely devastated, my big brother, my hero, wished I was not his brother. I then decided that if having emotions hurt this much, I didn't want them anymore. And from then on I was that emotionless shell you met. He later repented and begged me to forgive him, and I did, but the damage was already done. I know I probably over reacted and I wish I could tale it all back, but, I'm too scared to try. So, that's the story of how I got the way I am around other ponies."

Beat sat open mouthed after the story, a look of shock on his face. Pandora gave Cloud a massive hug and said,

"Th-that's horrible! I-I'm so sorry. I just... couldn't imagine Beat ever saying something like that to me and..."

She hugged him a little tighter. Cloud returned the hug while he looked down at the changeling's glossy black carapace. He couldn't help but stare at her, thinking about her adorable smile, her cute fangs, her sexy curves... WAIT WHAT!

Think pure thoughts Cloud, think pure, not sexy thoughts! I mean, she's this comfortable being around me that it's obvious she doesn't find me attractive or a viable choice for a relationship, no need to have a repeat of school crush numbers one through twelve. Just stay calm and don't think about her sexy flank... dammit.Beat snapped out of his stupor and shot Cloud a knowing look, glancing between Cloud amd the changeling hugging him. He smirked and gave Cloud a wink. Cloud blushed,

Stupid emotional senses, he was probably paying attention to that! As he and Pandora separated, Cloud cleared his throat before saying,

"So, Beat what are you doing here?"

"Checking up on my sis, so, in order to plan when I'm going to bail, what's the plan. I really want to catch up with my sis at some point."

Cloud nodded before checking over the mail. His heart stopped when he saw a letter from the captain of the guard. In it, he explained that due to a tour being held at the castle, his presence was required in the dungeon.

"Crap... listen, I've gotta work so, don't burn the house down!"

He hastily said while rushing to get his armor on, the enchantment changing his color to a uniform white. He quickly called out "bye!" before running out the door leaving two confused changelings in his wake.

"Huh,"

Beat said,

"I never would have thought he was a guard."

Comments

[Viper5012]

"Stupid emotional senses, he was probably paying attention to that!"
As he and Pandora separated, Cloud cleared his throat before saying,
"So, Beat what are you doing here?"

You need to have a difference between thoughts and said sentences (speech), makes it easier to read, and tell if it's actually been said or if it's just a thought.

[Nobody Nick Particular]

8076374 Thoughts are supposed to be in italics and speech should be in quotation marks. Just to spread the correct formatting for next time someone needs to point it out.